| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 702040000 | Radiant energy (e.g., X-ray, infrared, laser) | 37 |
| 20080262752 | Non-destructive method of measuring a moisture content profile across a hygroexpansive, composite material - The teachings provided herein are generally directed to a non-destructive method of measuring a moisture content profile across a dimension of a hygroexpansive, composite material using radiation and a volumetric shrinkage correction. The measurement of a series of moisture content profiles over time can provide, for example, a measure of the movement of moisture during the process of drying of the composite material. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080281532 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING BEARINGS - A system to facilitate reducing false train stops includes an infrared bearing scanner that is coupled to a processing unit. The processing unit is programmed to receive inputs from the infrared bearing scanner, generate a bearing profile for each bearing passing the Hot Box Detection System, assign a classification to each bearing profile, determine a quantity of bearing profiles assigned to each classification, and generate a maintenance alert if the quantity of bearings assigned to at least one classification exceeds a predetermined threshold. A method of reducing false trains stops is also described herein. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20080312847 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NONDESTRUCTIVE CORROSION DETECTION USING QUANTUM DOTS - A method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for non-destructive detection of corrosion using quantum dots. In one embodiment, a surface of an area on a commodity associated with a set of quantum dots is tested. A pattern of wavelengths emitted by the set of quantum dots associated with the surface of the commodity is detected to form a quantum dot pattern. The quantum dot pattern is analyzed to determine whether corrosion has occurred in the area on the surface of the commodity. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20090177415 | Surface Roughness Inspection System - [Problem] To provide a surface roughness inspection system enabling suitable inspection even when the surface of the object being inspected is curved. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090187354 | INSPECTION APPARATUS AND INSPECTION METHOD - The invention is directed to detect a warp amount in a real-time manner in a wafer rotating at high speed under inspection. An inspection apparatus includes: a first light irradiating unit for irradiating an object to be inspected with light; a first detector for detecting scattered light from the object to be inspected; a second light irradiating unit for irradiating the object to be inspected with light; a second detector for detecting light reflected from the object to be inspected, of light of the second light irradiating unit; a stage for moving an object to be inspected, which moves the object to be inspected so as to change irradiation positions on the object to be inspected, of the light of the first light irradiating unit and the light of the second light irradiating unit; an inspection coordinate detector for outputting information of coordinates of a position irradiated with light; an elevation control circuit for outputting height information of the object to be inspected on the basis of a detection signal from the second detector; and a data processing unit for calculating a warp amount of the object to be inspected on the basis of the information of the position coordinates from the inspection coordinate detector and the height information from the elevation control circuit. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090299655 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING TWO OR MORE CHARACTERISTICS OF A WAFER - Systems and methods for determining two or more characteristics of a wafer are provided. The two or more characteristics include a characteristic of the wafer that is spatially localized in at least one dimension and a characteristic of the wafer that is not spatially localized in two dimensions. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090312958 | Defect Detection System for Identifying Defects in Weld Seams - The disclosure relates to a defect detection system for identifying defects in weld seams. An exemplary system comprises a scanner device, which is mounted on a displacement device of a processing unit and which can be displaced by said unit over at least one weld seam that is to be examined. The scanner unit scans the weld seam using a predefinable frequency, each scanning sweep being correlated with a time signal and the time signal being used to record the point in time when at least one location containing defects is scanned. The system is equipped with an analysis module to determine the co-ordinates of the defects from the signals that are obtained by means of the scanning sweeps. The analysis module also stores the co-ordinates of the defects and transmits them to a localisation module. The localisation module determines the spatial arrangement of the defects of the weld seam by evaluating the speed profile of the displacement device during the scanning sweeps, the time signal that is assigned to the scanned location containing defects and the co-ordinates of the defects that are provided by the analysis module. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20100004875 | Defect Inspection Method and Apparatus - In a detection step, light produced on a sample in plural directions are collectively detected using a plurality of detectors. Multidimensional features containing information about scattered light distributions are extracted based on a plurality of detector outputs obtained. The feature is compared with data in a scattered light distribution library thereby to determine the types and sizes of defects. In a feature extraction step, a feature outputted based on the magnitude of each of scattered light detected signals of scatterers already known in refractive index and shape, which are obtained in the detection step, is corrected, thereby realizing high precision determination. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100057380 | X-RAY INSPECTION APPARATUS - An X-ray inspection apparatus includes a storage device, a setting device, a determining device, a calculating device and a display control device. The setting device is configured to set a hypothetical reference value that is different from an actual reference value that was used during the inspection of the articles. The determining device is configured to determine whether a contaminant exists inside each of the articles based on a result of a comparison between the hypothetical reference value and each of detection data stored in the storage device. The calculating device is configured to calculate a hypothetical contaminant existence rate as a ratio of a number of the articles in which the determining device has determined that a contaminant exists with respect to a total number of the articles. The display control device is configured to control a display section to indicate the hypothetical contaminant existence rate. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100088041 | TWO SLOPE REFERENCE FOR SYNTHETIC THERMAL TIME OF FLIGHT IMAGING - A method including receiving a first line and a second line to be joined at a junction location to provide a reference curve. A corresponding system and computer program product. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100088042 | Apparatus And Method For Testing Defects - An apparatus and method for detecting defects on a specimen includes an illumination optical unit which obliquely projects a laser focused onto a line on a surface of the specimen, a table unit which mounts the specimen and which is movable, a detection optical unit which detects with an image sensor an image of light formed by light reflected from the specimen and passed through a filter which blocks diffraction light resulting from patterns formed on the specimen, a signal processor which processes a signal outputted from the image sensor of the detection optical unit to extract defects of the specimen, and a display unit which displays information of defects extracted by the signal processor. The filter is adjustable. | 04-08-2010 |
| 20100228501 | APPARATUS AND METHOD OF INSPECTING MASK - A mask inspecting apparatus and method of inspecting a mask having a plurality of openings used in deposition in a desired pattern, the mask inspecting apparatus capable of detecting a defect of the mask through the openings of the mask. The mask inspecting apparatus includes: a detection unit detecting boundary line of each of the openings of the mask; a storage unit storing information about a member on which deposition is to be performed using the mask; a setting unit setting a first boundary line, a second boundary line, and a safety area for each of the openings using the stored information about the member on which deposition is to be performed, wherein the first boundary line forms an outline of a deposition area, the second boundary line surrounds the first boundary, and the safety area is interposed between the first boundary line and the second boundary line; and a control unit determining whether the boundary line of the mask detected by the detection unit does not contact the first boundary line and the second boundary line and whether it is present in the safety area. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100235114 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING ONE OR MORE CHARACTERISTICS OF A SPECIMEN USING RADIATION IN THE TERAHERTZ RANGE - Systems and methods for determining one or more characteristics of a specimen using radiation in the terahertz range are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to illuminate the specimen with radiation. The system also includes a detection subsystem configured to detect radiation propagating from the specimen in response to illumination of the specimen and to generate output responsive to the detected radiation. The detected radiation includes radiation in the terahertz range. In addition, the system includes a processor configured to determine the one or more characteristics of the specimen using the output. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100235115 | Automated Binary Processing of Thermographic Sequence Data - A method for processing thermographic data is disclosed including thermally disturbing a specimen of unknown quality, collecting thermal data from said specimen, converting the collected data into a measure of variance and comparing the variance from the sample of unknown quality against the variance of a sample of known quality in order to determine if the quality of the specimen of unknown quality is acceptable. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100268482 | APPARATUS OF INSPECTING DEFECT IN SEMICONDUCTOR AND METHOD OF THE SAME - When size of a defect on an increasingly miniaturized pattern is obtained by defect inspection apparatus in the related art, a value is inconveniently given, which is different from a measured value of the same defect by SEM. Thus, a dimension value of a defect detected by defect inspection apparatus needs to be accurately calculated to be approximated to a value measured by SEM. To this end, size of the defect detected by the defect inspection apparatus is corrected depending on feature quantity or type of the defect, thereby defect size can be accurately calculated. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20110153228 | PHOTON IMAGING SYSTEM FOR DETECTING DEFECTS IN PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES, AND METHOD THEREOF - A method includes supplying current to at least one photovoltaic device via a current source and detecting emitted photon radiations from the at least one photovoltaic device via a radiation detector. The method also includes outputting a signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations from the radiation detector to a processor device, and processing the signal corresponding to the detected emitted photon radiations via the processor device to generate one or more two-dimensional photon images. The method further includes analyzing the one or more two-dimensional photon images to determine at least one defect in the at least one photovoltaic device. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110161014 | NON-PATTERN WAFER INSPECTION DEVICE - A device to inspect a non-pattern wafer includes a light source to emit light that reflected from a wafer. A judgment unit converts the detected light into a quantitative measured value to determine whether the wafer is faulty. The wafer comprises a first region and a second region. The detection unit sequentially detects lights reflected from the first and second regions of the wafer, and a judgment unit converts the lights reflected from the first and second regions of the wafer into first and second quantitative measured values, respectively. The second region of the wafer is determined to be faulty by comparing the second measured value with a first reference value, wherein the first reference value is calculated using an average value between the first and second measured values, and a characteristic value that indicates distribution of the first and second measured values. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20120035863 | INSPECTION METHOD OF SOI WAFER - An inspection method of an SOI wafer in which profiles P1 and P2 are calculated in the SOI wafer to be inspected and in an SOI wafer having a film thickness of the SOI layer thicker or thinner than that of the SOI wafer to be inspected, respectively; a profile P3 of a difference between P1 and P2, or a profile P4 of a change ratio of P1 and P2 is calculated; light having the wavelength band selected on the basis of a maximum peak wavelength within the calculated profiles P3 or P4 is irradiated to the surface of the SOI wafer to be inspected, to detect the reflected-light from the SOI wafer; and a place of a peak generated by an increase in reflection intensity of the detected reflected-light is found, as the defect caused by the change in the film thickness of the SOI layer. | 02-09-2012 |
| 20120046884 | SURFACE INSPECTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CALIBRATING SAME - While an illumination optical system | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120046885 | OPTICAL INSPECTION METHOD AND ITS APPARATUS - The present invention provides an optical inspection method capable of detecting a finer defect in the surface of a substrate, including the steps of: irradiating a surface of a sample which is rotating and continuously moving in one direction with illumination light which is incident in a direction obliquely to the sample surface; detecting an image of light formed by a forward scattering light around an optical axis of regular-reflection light while excluding the regular-reflection light from the sample surface irradiated with the illumination light; condensing and detecting lateral scattering light which scatters laterally from the sample surface with respect to an incidence direction of the illumination light; and processing a signal obtained by detecting the image of light formed by the forward scattering light and a signal obtained by condensing and detecting the lateral scattering light to extract a defect including a scratch defect. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120173166 | TEST SYSTEM FOR TESTING A PROJECTIVE MASK - A test system for testing a projective mask is provided to make an analysis based on the defect figures of the projective mask obtained by a figure capture unit and thus determine whether the quality of the projective mask meets a requirement. The test system comprises a figure analysis unit for comparing the defect figure and the target design figure corresponding to the projective mask and obtaining a bias proportion between the defect figure and the target design figure, and a test determine unit for comparing the bias proportion outputted by the figure analysis unit with a maximum permitted bias proportion. If the outputted bias proportion does not exceed the maximum permitted bias proportion, a determination that the quality of the projective mask meets the requirement is made by the test determine unit; otherwise, the test determine unit determines that the quality of the projective mask does not meets the requirement. | 07-05-2012 |
| 20120245861 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF INSPECTION SPEED BY GENERATION OF STAGE SPEED PROFILE AND SELECTION OF CARE AREAS FOR AUTOMATED WAFER INSPECTION - Disclosed are apparatus and methods for the generation of a stage speed profile and/or the selection of care areas for automated wafer inspection. The stage speed profile generated corresponds to a fastest speed the inspection machine is able to inspect provided a set of care areas. The set of care areas selected correspond to specific regions on the wafer which are to be imaged in detail by the inspection machine. The apparatus and methods herein may also calculate speed of inspection and coverage (and possibly other characteristics of the inspection) for a quantity of cases, and select the best trade-off of coverage versus inspection time using a cost function. Other aspects, features, and embodiments of the invention are also disclosed. | 09-27-2012 |
| 20120296575 | DAMAGE TOLERANCE OF A ROTOR ASSEMBLY - A system is provided for improving the damage tolerance of a rotor assembly. The system includes one or more measurement subsystems for measuring the stresses in respective parts of the rotor assembly and issuing respective measurement signals. The system also includes a control subsystem for receiving the measurement signals from the measurement subsystems, determining a response to measured stresses indicative of crack growth, and issuing response signals. The system also includes one or more release subsystems for receiving respective response signals, and activating controlled release of material from respective parts of the rotor assembly to mitigate the effect of the crack growth. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20120296576 | DEFECT INSPECTION METHOD AND DEVICE THEREOF - The present invention relates to a defect inspection device which includes: irradiating means for simultaneously irradiating different regions on a sample with illumination light under different optical conditions, the sample being predesigned to include patterns repeatedly formed thereupon, wherein the patterns are to be formed in the same shape; detection means for detecting, for each of the different regions, a beam of light reflected from each region irradiated with the illumination light; defect candidate extraction means for extracting defect candidates under the different optical conditions for each of the different regions, by processing detection signals corresponding to the reflected light which is detected; defect extraction means for extracting defects by integrating the defect candidates extracted under the different optical conditions; and defect classifying means for calculating feature quantities of the extracted defects and classifies the defects according to the calculated feature quantities. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20120310552 | Detection Method and System for Array Substrate - Disclosed are a detection method and a detection system for an array substrate. The method comprises: supplying power to data lines and/or gate lines of the array substrate continuously in a setting time; proceeding temperature sensing to the data line and/or the gate line of the array substrate and recording results of the temperature sensing; find defect points on the data lines and/or the gate lines according to the results of the temperature sensing. The skill solution provided by the present invention is capable of detecting the inner defects of the data lines and/or the gate lines of the array substrate for preventing defect products entering the follow-up processes to promote the production quality and avoid the waste. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20130035876 | DETECTING DEFECTS ON A WAFER - Methods and systems for detecting defects on a wafer are provided. | 02-07-2013 |
| 20130035877 | Methods and Systems for Determining a Characteristic of a Wafer - Methods and systems for determining a characteristic of a wafer are provided. One method includes generating output responsive to light from the wafer using an inspection system. The output includes first output corresponding to defects on the wafer and second output that does not correspond to the defects. The method also includes determining the characteristic of the wafer using the second output. One system includes an inspection subsystem configured to illuminate the wafer and to generate output responsive to light from the wafer. The output includes first output corresponding to defects on the wafer and second output that does not correspond to the defects. The system also includes a processor configured to determine the characteristic of the wafer using the second output. | 02-07-2013 |
| 20130138362 | PROCESSING IMAGES OF FIBER OPTIC CONNECTOR ENDS - A system includes a scope for obtaining images of an end face of an optical fiber in a fiber optic connector. The system also includes a computing device. The computing device is configured to obtain images of the end face of the optical fiber via the scope, identify surface defects on the end face of the optical fiber based on the images, and determine insertion loss of the fiber optic connector due to the surface defects. | 05-30-2013 |
| 20130179094 | Symmetry Based Air Pocket Detection Methods and Systems - Methods and systems for use in detecting an air pocket in a single crystal material are described. One example method includes providing a matrix including a plurality of data units, the plurality of data units including image data related to a region of interest of the single crystal material; defining a first half and a second half of the matrix based on a first axis passing through the center of the matrix; determining, by a processor, a difference between each data unit of the first half and a corresponding data unit of the second half; calculating, by the processor, a first index value based on the determined differences; and identifying an air pocket within the single crystal material based on the first index value and a predetermined threshold. | 07-11-2013 |
| 20130261989 | FLAW DETECTION USING TRANSIENT THERMOGRAPHY - A method and system for inspecting an object is provided. In accordance with embodiments of the method, a thermal excitation pulse is applied to an object undergoing evaluation. A transient thermal signal from the object is detected in response to the thermal excitation pulse. Two or more orthogonal functions are applied to the transient thermal signal based on a defined time interval to generate two or more orthogonal components. The object is assessed for defects at different depths using the two or more orthogonal components. | 10-03-2013 |
| 20130297232 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INSPECTING AN OBJECT FOR THE DETECTION OF SURFACE DAMAGE - A method and device for performing the method of inspecting an object for the purpose of detecting defective surface regions of the object, comprising the steps of using a scanning device to survey a surface of the object to be inspected and generating two-dimensional image data and a measured surface profile in at least one cross-sectional plane through the object in each case; using a computer device to evaluate the two-dimensional image data in order to localize a potentially defective surface region; using the computer device to generate a calculated surface profile within the potentially defective surface region in the cross-sectional plane on the basis of the measured surface pro-file outside of the potentially defective surface region of the cross-sectional plane; using the computer device to compare the calculated and measured surface profiles within the potentially defective surface region, the localized surface region being assessed as actually defective if defined differentiating features are present. | 11-07-2013 |
| 20130304399 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WAFER SURFACE FEATURE DETECTION, CLASSIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION WITH WAFER GEOMETRY METROLOGY TOOLS - Systems and methods for providing micro defect inspection capabilities for optical systems such as wafer metrology tools and interferometer systems are disclosed. The systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may detect, classify and quantify wafer surface features, wherein the detected defects are classified and the important defect metrology information of height/depth, area and volume is reported. The systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure therefore provide more values for quantifying the negative effect of these defects on the wafer quality. | 11-14-2013 |
| 20140142868 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING TRACK IN RAILROAD - A track inspection vehicle includes a track inspection platform with a propulsion system and a vehicle control system, at least one track inspection device, and a track inspection controller. The track inspection platform is to be positioned on a railroad. The propulsion system and vehicle control system selectively and adjustably operate and control the track inspection platform to traverse the railroad in a self-propelled manner. Each track inspection device produces electronic inspection data relating to a condition of the railroad in conjunction with operation of the track inspection platform to perform a railroad inspection task. The track inspection controller controls one or more track inspection device to selectively or continuously produce the corresponding electronic inspection data in conjunction with performance of the railroad inspection task. The track inspection vehicle may also include a remote control unit. Various methods for inspecting track in a railroad are also provided. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20140142869 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USE IN MONITORING PROPERTIES OF PATTERNED STRUCTURES - A method and system are presented for use in characterizing properties of an article having a structure comprising a multiplicity of sites comprising different periodic patterns, where method includes providing a theoretical model of prediction indicative of optical properties of different stacks defined by geometrical and material parameters of corresponding sites, said sites being common in at least one of geometrical parameter and material parameter; performing optical measurements on at least two different stacks of the article and generating optical measured data indicative of the geometrical parameters and material composition parameters for each of the measured stacks; processing the optical measured data, said processing comprising simultaneously fitting said optical measured data for the multiple measured stacks with said theoretical model and extracting said at least one common parameter, thereby enabling to characterize the properties of the multi-layer structure within the single article. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20140379281 | Measurement Model Optimization Based On Parameter Variations Across A Wafer - An optimized measurement model is determined based a model of parameter variations across a semiconductor wafer. A global, cross-wafer model characterizes a structural parameter as a function of location on the wafer. A measurement model is optimized by constraining the measurement model with the cross-wafer model of process variations. In some examples, the cross-wafer model is itself a parameterized model. However, the cross-wafer model characterizes the values of a structural parameter at any location on the wafer with far fewer parameters than a measurement model that treats the structural parameter as unknown at every location. In some examples, the cross-wafer model gives rise to constraints among unknown structural parameter values based on location on the wafer. In one example, the cross-wafer model relates the values of structural parameters associated with groups of measurement sites based on their location on the wafer. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20150369751 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR TRANSFORMER IN-SITU INSPECTION - An inspection device for use in a fluid container having at least an opening includes a housing sized to fit through the opening. The housing has at least two fluid flow channels extending therethrough, each having an inlet and an outlet, and a pump maintained in the housing within each fluid flow channel. The pumps are selectively controlled to maneuver the housing within the fluid container. The inspection device continues with a method of in-situ inspection of a container having at least one opening to receive a fluid, that includes up-loading a virtual model of the container into a computer, inserting the device into the container, generating a position signal by the device and receiving the position signal on a computer. A virtual image of the device in the virtual model of the container is generated to determine an actual position of the device within the container. | 12-24-2015 |
| 20160131594 | SYSTEMS FOR PARSING MATERIAL PROPERTIES FROM WITHIN SHG SIGNALS - Semiconductor metrology systems based on directing radiation on a wafer, detecting second harmonic generated (SHG) radiation from the wafer and correlating the second harmonic generated (SHG) signal to one or more electrical properties of the wafer are disclosed. The disclosure also includes parsing the SHG signal to remove contribution to the SHG signal from one or more material properties of the sample such as thickness. Systems and methods described herein include machine learning methodologies to automatically classify obtained SHG signal data from the wafer based on an electrical property of the wafer. | 05-12-2016 |
